Minimally invasive surgery is performed through small incisions in the body, into which trocar ports may or may not be placed. One or more surgical instruments are inserted through each incision in order to perform the surgical procedure. In order to effectuate one of the objectives of minimally invasive surgery, which is the minimization of incisions to the body to reduce healing time and scarring, it is desirable to minimize the number of incisions made in the body. The number of incisions and their placement are determined by the particular surgical procedure to be performed and the configuration of the instruments used to carry out that procedure.
One problem encountered during the performance of surgical stapling in a minimally-invasive procedure, or even an open surgical procedure, is the need for different triggers on a surgical stapler for clamping and for staple deployment. The use of multiple triggers increases the complexity of use of, the part count of, and the size of a surgical stapler.
The use of the same reference symbols in different figures indicates similar or identical items.